


The Meaning of Home

by tiredgaykeith



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dorky Teens Being Dorks, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, takes place before season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 17:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17104943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiredgaykeith/pseuds/tiredgaykeith
Summary: (Rainforest Zine Piece)Pidge is hitting a wall in the search of her missing father and growing weary. Luckily Lance is there to remind her of the important things.





	The Meaning of Home

_ Pidge hated English class the most in elementary school. She never was able to fully understand the abstract concepts her teachers would drone on about. Right now,  she watched with droopy eyes as her teacher paced around his desk and smiled at the class. _

_ “So,” he sighed, “who can tell me what the author meant when she said she was going home in the final chapter?” _

_ Silence met him as his eyes wandered the room, waiting for someone to speak up. This was so painfully awkward, Pidge thought. _

_ Finally a shy hand rose up from the front row. _

_ “Yes, Mariah?” her teacher asked. _

_ “Maybe she considers Newport to be her home now?” Mariah tried. _

_ "Close, but not quite." Her teacher still gave Mariah an encouraging smile before he scanned the rest of the room. _ _ His eyes caught Katie’s and before she could look away he smiled directly at her.  _

_ “Any thoughts, Katie?” he asked, and some students looked her way. _

_ She felt her palms get sweaty and she looked back anxiously at her teacher. “Nope,” she answered, “She obviously considers her home to be where she grew up, so there was no reason for her to say she was going home when she was headed into town to find Robert.” _

_ Her teacher seemed disappointed at the answer. “Well, alrighty then. I’m not gonna tell you guys, but one day you’ll figure it out. I’m sure of that at least.” _

_ Pidge rolled her eyes when he looked away. Like she’d remember this past today’s lunch. _   
  


* * *

 

Pidge found that the only place she truly felt at home was in her computer room nowadays. She was surrounded with her system, the luminescence of the center data spiral in the room, and carefully placed photos of her loved ones near her screens. She felt at ease enough to let herself show her true emotions hidden under the facade she was expected to wear as the intelligent and thoughtful Green Paladin. 

And right now, Pidge was crying. 

Pidge watched with blurred vision as her tears fell one by one onto the keyboard, her sniffle sounding like an alarm in the small, tight room. Her hands gripped into her hair, rough and trembling like the pain she felt in her heart.  Pidge also felt the familiar pain of staying in front of a computer screen too long. The beating in her temples forced her to look away from another data test.

Another failure to locate where the Galra prison ship had disappeared to. 

Another failure to get anywhere closer to finding her father. 

Pidge is rarely one to be discouraged by failure. her father had always told her, “Failure is a prerequisite to success.”

But Pidge had been searching for months on months, and was still stuck in the same place. The prison ship had been going a straight direction when suddenly, all lines of the ship disappeared. Not a trace of it could be found, as if it literally vanished into thin air. Nowhere in the surrounding area were there planets or outpost stations they could have landed on.

There was no trace of her father to find. He was simply gone, along with any chance of Pidge and Matt finding him. 

Pidge rubbed her wet cheeks and sniffled before taking a shaky breath. She was angry and hurt but sitting here would do her nothing. She was smart enough to realize that. 

So Pidge pushed away from the desk and left the room, surprised to find the hallway lights on. She checked her watch to see what time it was on the ship and was shocked to see it was already 6 AM. 

_ Have I seriously worked for twelve hours straight? _

As Pidge walked slowly through the corridors her eyes began to feel heavy. She found herself wandering into Green’s hangar, and as soon as she laid her eyes onto the familiar Green Lion, the barrier disappeared and the Green Lion lowered herself to the ground. Pidge could feel the Lion checking on her in the back of her head like a concerned friend, a tickle running from the base of her neck to the bottoms of her feet. 

_ I’m okay, girl,  _ Pidge told her, and the tingle fade. Climbing into her seat, Pidge rested her head on the back of the seat, Green turning the lights low and heating the cockpit until it was nice and warm. Pidge’s eyes closed, and she felt herself fade into darkness. 

 

Pidge woke up, disoriented, to loud music. She rubbed her eyes and checked through the window, surprised at the view below. 

“Lance?” Pidge watched with curiosity as Lance rubbed down the metal blades, occasionally belting a verse in the song he was playing through his phone from below. Pidge checked the time.

It was 12 o'clock. 

She carefully exited her lion, and peered at Lance down below who still hadn’t noticed Pidge’s presence. 

“Lance!”

Lance jolted and looked up, then smiled brightly. Pidge felt a familiar flip in her stomach, one she had gotten used to over the years of being around her crush. “Hey, Pidge!” Lance waved. “Want to help out? I usually try to clean all the kitties paws once a week, I think they enjoy it!”

Pidge felt a wave of giddiness from Green that surprised her. “Yeah I think you’re right,” she said while lightly petting Green’s nose. “Green definitely enjoys it. Okay, I’ll help but one second.” She ran back into Green’s mouth for a moment, coming out a few minutes later wearing a soft green tank top and baggy shorts. She swung down and met Lance by Green’s big paws. 

“Catch!” Lance turned suddenly and threw a soggy, wet sponge at her, soaking her shirt. Pidge groaned, looking down at how wet she had become. 

“Really, Lance?” she grumbled, but started scrubbing at the dirt on Green’s paws. 

“Oh, come on now,” Lance said. He pulling out another dripping sponge from the bucket beside him, “It’s just soap and water. It ain’t gonna kill ya.”

They worked away on the lion’s feet in silence, letting the music drift between them. Lance hummed the tune under his breath while Pidge let herself tap her foot along to the melody.  She felt the heaviness in her mind slowly lift, as well as the tiredness in her bones. Her mood brightened as they worked together.

Eventually, when Pidge had stopped cleaning to get a new sponge, she noticed Lance staring at her from across the other side of the paw, a look of concern crossing his face

“What’s up?” she asked, squeezing the sponge out before going back to her spot on the lion. 

“Are you doing okay?” Lance’s question was sudden, “You’ve been distant lately. I’ve been wanting to finish Killbot Phantasm I for awhile now, but you’re always busy on the computers. I understand you’re trying to find your family and all, especially since you’ve found Matt, but overworking yourself isn’t the answer.”

Pidge was quiet for a moment, unsure how to answer before she sighed and continued to scrub away half heartedly. 

"I'm so close Lance." Pidge swallowed back the knot forming in her throat as she spoke. "I've been close for months but the data doesn’t make sense, the timeline doesn’t make sense. And I can’t tell if I’m getting nowhere because of the giant holes in my knowledge or just cause...  I’m not enough to find him.”

For a moment there was quiet in the room. The phone ran out of songs to play and there was dead silence in the hangar. Pidge heard Lance shuffle closer to her from where he had been sitting and cleaning until he was right next to her. She looked down at her crossed legs, her hands soaked with the sponge in hand, unable to look Lance in the eye. A long arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her into a warm embrace. Her face was against the damp fabric of his shirt and he smelled familiar, like her brother's old cologne, unscented soap, and deodorant.

“You’re barely 16, Pidge,” Lance said, his voice low and steady, “I’m not even eighteen yet. Most kids our age are, god, who the fuck knows? Cruising in their parent’s car, playing videogames all day long, going to prom-”

Pidge snorted at that. “You had dreams of going to prom?”

“Fuck yeah I did.” Lance tried to sound offended, but failed as Pidge could still hear the smile in his voice. “Damn, I had a tux and date plans for whoever the lucky girl would be already set in my head.”

Pidge looked up at Lance and found him looking right at her. When their eyes met, he smiled.

“What I’m getting at, Pidge,” Lance sighed, pulling her in tighter, “We already shoulder way too much responsibility as teens. We deserve Killbot Phantasm breaks and hanging out with Hunk in the kitchen and doing our best to make this weird castle the closest thing to home.”

Pidge nodded, though she was at a loss for words. 

 

_ One day you’ll figure it out. I’m sure of that at least.  _

  
  


“Thanks, Lance,” Pidge finally said, though they continued to sit there, staring into each other’s eyes. Pidge felt an urge in her, and at first she thought it was coming from her lion but no. That was all her. Lance slowly leaned in to Pidge, his eyes falling shut and Pidge’s heart raced faster. Something in her head told her to lean in, too. Pidge lifted her hand to caress Lance’s face, to close the gap, when-

The soggy, wet sponge that Pidge had forgotten she had in her hand made contact with Lance’s face. They sat there, looking at each other wide eyed. Then Pidge burst into giggles. Lance’s smile slowly widened until his eyes narrowed with glee. 

_ Oh no.  _

_ This could get ugly.  _

“Oh, it’s on,” Lance said before reaching behind him and wiping the still dripping, wet sponge into Pidge’s face. 

And so the fight was on. Both of them tried to get the other soaked as they danced around the lion’s feet, like a game of hide and seek. Pidge ducked in between two claws when Lance wasn’t looking, and she heard him slowly moving towards where she was. 

Right as he showed up from around the corner, Pidge reached over and shoved the sponge down the back of his shirt. Lance yelped much to Pidge’s amusement, dancing around trying to remove it with much struggle. Finally when the sponge dropped out of Lance’s shirt, he picked it up and ran towards Pidge. Pidge tried to step back but found herself falling from the wet floor. Just before she was about to hit the ground, Lance grabbed her hand, and pulled her back up and into his chest. 

“Careful there, princess,” Lance joked, a blush apparent on his face, “Can’t have your pretty face getting hurt, now can we?”

Pidge scoffed, playfully pushing away from his grasp. “Please, you say that one more time, I’ll use Green’s camouflage tech to hide the gaming system from you for a week.” 

He laughed, pulling her back into his chest. Pidge found herself once again entranced in his blue eyes, and this time, there was no way out. And she didn’t want a way out. They grew  closer until Lance’s lips ghosted hers. 

_ Camouflage.  _

_ Wait.  _

“That’s it,” Pidge pulled away just as they were about to kiss, leaving Lance confused and pouting. 

“What are you-”

“Lance!” Pidge was overwhelmed with joy, grabbing Lance by the face and kissing him firmly on his lips. “I got to go! I have a new lead!”

Pidge ran off from the hangar, to excited from getting another puzzle piece to her father’s whereabouts. 

Lance laughed nervously, his cheeks aflame. “Right, right! Go get ‘em, babe- Pidge! Pidge.”

Lance sighed as Pidge left the hangar, left with soggy clothes and a watery mess to clean up. He felt a sudden humorous poke in his back much to his annoyance. 

“Not now, Green,” he grumbled but let the lion make fun of him while he cleaned their mess. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos are very much appreciated! Come over to twitter and talk to me about cute ships @ spookypidge !


End file.
